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III Z••• A FEMINIST l,.ESBIAN PUBLICATlON, WRITTEN BY AND FOR THE RISING TIDE OF WOMEN TODAY IWY Lesbian Delegate, Betty Powell; "We're all of us, all women ... black, brown, red, yellow and white ... moving into a new day now." (Houston, Nov. 20, 1977) , January / February 1978 $1.00 ,~,Bsbian Table of Contents Tide PERSPECTIVES I , TIDE PUBLICATI~ Coming Out Single 4 , Burning Out Is Not an Option ' ,8706 Cadillac Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90034 Profile: Ginny Berson: 5 (213) 839-7254 The Politics of Ballistics - Please note new address (Special Section includes the use of guns, how women ~re fighting back and analysis of the L.A. Hillside Strangler). 6 Vol. 7, No.4 WY: Those Lesbians are Everywhere! (Special Section includes Photo Essay and perspectives 'WHO WE ARE on our victory in Houston) . 1?J Should Lesbians Support the Gay Movement? 17 The Lesbian Tide is a feminist lesbian publication fin- NATIONAL NEWS ancially supported by the community it serves. It is publish- Diana Press Ransacked 18 ed by Tide Publications, and receives its political direction Rights & Referendums _ 18 from The Editorial and Political Collective. We pro- National Lesbian Convention 19 duced by the pride and energies of a staff who are com- SHORTCURRENTS mitted to one or more specific departments within the Lesbian seagulls and love letters, GOP and Schlafly, Noble machine. The staff is continually open to women who wish Uncertain, Witch Newsletter, lawyers converge, Bryant loses fO become involved in journalism and communications her parade.Quebec Celebrates Passage of Gay Rights) Scholars Dr who see media as a vehicle for activitism. The E & P Agree on ERA Extension, Witch to Address Religious Confer- collective is open to staff members who have been with ence , 20 the magazine for six months and share a radical feminist MOTHERS '\ perspective, ' Who Wants A Court Battle, Money for Moms 26 EDITQRIAL POLICY ~DITORIAL/LETTERS , The right wing advertises in Tide, Fat Underground say In the interest of fostering open communication and pro- thanks, NGTF responds 27 gressive theoretical developn'lent, The Lesbian Tide prints (REVIEWS a wide variety of views from the lesbian, feminist, and gay June Arnold's latest, Applesauce.Against The Grain, communities. Our editorial perspective also includes coverage jender secrets from The Ladder ... \ .•............ 30 of other social change movements as they relate to women .. COMMUNITY FOCUS Progress in GCSC Strike, Wicca Battles City Hall, Feds The views expressed in this publication are not those of Tide Fund Alcholism Film '.. ", . 34 Publications or the Editorial and Political Collective unless /. specifically by-lined as such. • •••••••••••••••••••••• '0 ••••••••••• '0' ••••••••••••••••••• Ii ••• The Editorial and Political Collective is a group of radical feminist lesbians who believe basic change in our society POSTAL INFORMATION is a pre-requisite to real liberation for women and lesbians. Application to, 'mail at 2nd class postage rates is pending We publish editorials stating our views and analysis on par- at Los 'Angeles, California. The Lesbian Tide is a. bi-monthly ticular issues. This is Vol. 7, No.4, January/February 1978 issue. Sub- Subscribers! If you move your subscription is not forward- scriptions are $6 per year. Main offices are located at: able, so send us your new address immediately. 8706 Cadillac' Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90034 , .................................." '.' :. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• e ;. • e ••• e •••••• e •••••••• e e •• FOR MAJOR EVENTS, CONCERTS, ETC. AND NATIONAL LESBIAN PRODUCTS SEE OUR FINE ADS. e•• e e •• e e e • e ••• e ••••••••••• e •••• e e •••••••••••••• e ••••••••••• !LE511AD STAFF Editorial & Political Collective: Shirl Buss, Jeanne Cordova, Sharon McDonald" ; STAY CURRENT WITHIIDE Contributing Board Editor: Cheri Lesh Circulation: Barbara Gehrke Starlyn Howard Attached is my $'6.00 for a one year subscription to Advertising: Jeanne Cordova start with the next issue. .(Six issues per year) Correspondent: Pat Califia (San Francisco) GRAPHICS: Markswoman. Name ~ _ PRODUCTION CREW: (this issue): Melissa Moseley, Barbara Gehrke, Shirl Buss, Jeanne Cordova, Address,__------------------------~ ~ Catherine Markswoman- Ann Latchford City " __ -'- .,- _ CONTRIBUTOR: Majorie Canton State _ _ Zip _ Published by Tide Publications I *all subscriptions maiied in plain wrapper Covpr;phpt,o 'by Cynthia MacAdams Jan./Feb.3 __ Ji --perspectives-I' _ 7/ ' Coming Out Single By Blackberry and Nelly "For me being single is about establishing equality in 'llY relationships with women. We have been taught that your lover is number one and all your other relationships are go around. So we better get it when we can and hold onto of lower priority. As a single woman I want to change that." it and not let anyone else get near it for fear we might lose Gathering together for the weekend in the primitive sur- it!" roundings -of a wooded canyon in Southern Oregon, twenty We carried the high feeling that came out of this first gath- women began to affirm and discuss their experiences of ering with us as we hiked to the back of the canyon in the being single. This April weekend was the culmination of a early spring sun. We put up a tipi and began a circle filled year of smaller meetings. Some of us have felt single all of with dancing women. Dressed women, half-dressed women, our lives, others come from long term "marriages" with nude women moved slowly to the' music of the 'Trgnala women. For some of us, singleness was a political choice. Rumjana' dance. This Rumanian dance originally was done Others saw singleness as present circumstance. All of us in dresses laden with coins handed down from mother to were eager to share our life and our ideas. daughter, 'with the dancers lifting their legs slowly beneath As we assembled on Saturday morning, we drew our circle the weight of their costumes. The dance was a meditation, together with a song. We then began the impossible (?) task and it was followed by energetic Israeli dances that left of defining ourselves .... us panting. "Being single for me has been like another coming out. We then broke into smaller groups to talk about sex, a I was in a five year heavy monogamous relationship. I am scary, exciting topic to all of us. Some women felt one way breaking my conditioning about 'true love'. There is not to break down the exclusiveness, the oppressiveness of couple going to be one person who I will love and be loved by for- relationships was to be sexually open to more than one women ever. It's been hard to face the fact that needs change. I at a time. see now, that in the relationship I lost a lot of my self cen- We talked about new ways of physically loving each other, ter and became dependent." in threes, in circles, and how to create a safe space to test new ways. "I think a threesome is a very daring thing to do and very untraditional. Tradition is very powerful and secure. We have established rituals around sexuality such as going to a bar and going through a courtship and going to bed. Somehow we learned that ritual. But threesomes do not have much tradition yet. I think part of creating new traditions has to be intentional, seeking them, and talking' about them,' and yet at the same time. they must be organic." "I went into a retreat with a group of women doing medi- tation, dream work, role playing and massage. We made an agreement that we were going to validate each other all of the time. Every day we were constantly supporting each other. Everyone blossomed under it. We were also open with each other sexually. We constructed a ritual where we all .Q stood in a circle and kissed each other good night. In a ~ masturbation workshop we all made love to ourselves to- ..c'" gether in a circle. First we talked about it and did ex· .8 ercises. It was a sexual ritual that seemed safer than making o love to each other" ~ We found that all our conditioning around romance blocked "I lived with all couples for two years, and I felt one down. us from being loving and open with one another. And final- I knew who these women ultimately gave their primary ly brought us a lot of pain. energy to. I feel oppressed by the power dynamics involved. In closing, we felt' the weekend was merely the beginning Couples have 'a much stronger power position. They are two of a vision. A vision for single women to spend a longer and carry that power and sometimes that feels like twice period of time together in the summer. As single women 'as much power as I have." . •. we experienced the significance of working on our feelings "I see a close relationship between capitalism and coupling. in a group, not in isolation. We felt the impact of sharing Capitalism is ownership of property, coupling is ownership our feelings and vulnerabilities with more than just one woo of people. In capitalist society, we learn that there is not man. We began the hard task of working through our [ea- enough to go around, so we compete for it and when we lousies, dependencies and feelings of exclusion in a circle. get it we hold on. 'Possessiveness' in love relationships.is It is important for single women to find each other and based on the assumption that there is not enough love to know we are not alone. 4 Lesbian Tide ·PROrILE: \Ginny Berson Burning Out Is NotAn,Option by Sharon McDonald I'm much. more tolerant of change and transition than I was. Too many women have walked through our doors as straight women and walked out as lesbians for me to haue the same kind of hostility to straight women that I used to have.

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